THE DAILY FOUNTAIN DAILY DEVOTIONAL GUIDE OF THE CHURCH OF NIGERIA (ANGLICAN COMMUNION)
DATE: FRIDAY, 11TH AUGUST, 2023
TOPIC: WALK IN NEWNESS OF LIFE
TEXT: ROMANS 6
1. What shall we say then? Shall we continue in sin that grace may abound?
2. Certainly not! How shall we who died to sin live any longer in it?
3. Or do you not know that as many of us as were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into His death?
4. Therefore we were buried with Him through baptism into death, that just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life.
5. For if we have been united together in the likeness of His death, certainly we also shall be [in the likeness] of [His] resurrection,
6. knowing this, that our old man was crucified with [Him,] that the body of sin might be done away with, that we should no longer be slaves of sin.
7. For he who has died has been freed from sin.
8. Now if we died with Christ, we believe that we shall also live with Him,
9. knowing that Christ, having been raised from the dead, dies no more. Death no longer has dominion over Him.
10. For [the death] that He died, He died to sin once for all; but [the life] that He lives, He lives to God.
11. Likewise you also, reckon yourselves to be dead indeed to sin, but alive to God in Christ Jesus our Lord.
12. Therefore do not let sin reign in your mortal body, that you should obey it in its lusts.
13. And do not present your members [as] instruments of unrighteousness to sin, but present yourselves to God as being alive from the dead, and your members [as] instruments of righteousness to God.
14. For sin shall not have dominion over you, for you are not under law but under grace.
15. What then? Shall we sin because we are not under law but under grace? Certainly not!
16. Do you not know that to whom you present yourselves slaves to obey, you are that one's slaves whom you obey, whether of sin [leading] to death, or of obedience [leading] to righteousness?
17. But God be thanked that [though] you were slaves of sin, yet you obeyed from the heart that form of doctrine to which you were delivered.
18. And having been set free from sin, you became slaves of righteousness.
19. I speak in human [terms] because of the weakness of your flesh. For just as you presented your members [as] slaves of uncleanness, and of lawlessness [leading] to [more] lawlessness, so now present your members [as] slaves [of] righteousness for holiness.
20. For when you were slaves of sin, you were free in regard to righteousness.
21. What fruit did you have then in the things of which you are now ashamed? For the end of those things [is] death.
22. But now having been set free from sin, and having become slaves of God, you have your fruit to holiness, and the end, everlasting life.
23. For the wages of sin [is] death, but the gift of God [is] eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.
MESSAGE:
A life in sin is a life in captivity. By this we also mean whoever lives in sin is prevented from peace and the entire embodiment of the grace of God. Our text today digs deep into the life of pretence many live, even members of the Christian family. “... How shall we that are dead to sin, live any longer therein?” (Rom. 6:2, 6). Being dead to sin translates to freedom from sin (Rom. 6:7). It is extremely absurd to see Christians living in sin. The consequences of living in sin are heavy: Becoming slaves to sin, being ostracised from the grace of God, coming into slavery to the law as well as being slaves to death.
We must not forget that Apostle Paul here, was speaking to the Church in Rome and not unbelievers, just as Christ speaks to the contemporary Church. Christ expects that our new birth in Him would translate to living a complete spiritually-transformed life. “... if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things have passed away; behold, all things are become new”(2 Cor. 5:17). As children of light, think of the consequences of living again in sin, and walk in newness of life.
PRAYER:
Lord Jesus, help me come to You for renewal of heart and the decision to live hence forth in newness of life. Amen.
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